THURSDAY, AUG. 28, 2025
VOLUME 100 ISSUE 1
GOIN’ BAND
NEWS
Eli Heath, a junior Honors College student, is the 20th student regent of the Texas Tech System. Read more about his goals for his term.
Attempt The DT’s very own crossword with original clues and sneaky hints.
Learn more about Texas Tech football’s outside linebacker coach C.J. Ah You’s coaching style.
The Texas Tech Goin’ Band from Raiderland is celebrating its centennial this year.
Crime rates are dropping in Lubbock, but there are still steps students should take to ensure they stay safe.
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LA VIDA
PUZZLE
SPORTS
CENTENNIAL
Goin’ Band celebrates 100th year By ALLIE SCOTT News editor
Texas Tech’s Goin’ Band from Raiderland will celebrate its centennial year as a sea of red and black will flood the field for the largest halftime performance in Goin’ Band history. During halftime of the Aug. 30 football game against ArkansasPine Bluff, the current band members will join alumni on the field for the historical performance. “Texas Tech has something special. In a day and age where nothing lasts, the Goin’ Band has lasted 100 years and is still going strong,” Gordon said. The Goin’ Band is the largest and oldest spirit organization at Tech. Joel Pagán, Goin’ Band director, said the band is looking forward to getting a share of the field and as he looks back he recognizes the band’s excellence and all the aspects that have brought them to the point over the last 100 years. Pagán said he is looking forward to celebrating 100 years with 1,200 past and current Goin’ Band members, individuals he referred to as family. “We’re gonna have over 1,000 alumni coming back, which I think it’s a testament to just how special the traditions and family experience (are),” Pagán said. “It’s gonna be a really special
JADON CHESNUTT/The Daily Toreador
The Texas Tech Goin’ Band from Raiderland marches during halftime as Tech faces Baylor in its homecoming matchup at Jones AT&T Stadium Oct. 19, 2024. The Goin’ Band will celebrate its centennial year kicking off the 2025-26 football season with a performance from more than 1,140 current band members and alumni.
day for us.” Altogether, during the halftime performance there will be 900 alumni on the field and another 300 alumni in the stands. This includes 440 current Goin’ Band members who will make up a marching unit of 1140 people. Pagan said the considerable part of preparation is coordinating 1400 people on the field. He said it is primarily logistics, but also explaining to the individuals that this is a special moment because these
people are coming back to be a part of something that has meant so much to them and everyone before them. Through its time as an organization, the Goin’ Band has etched its mark on the campus. Kelly Gordon, centennial chairperson and membership chair for the Goin’ Band Association, said in 2023 a board of directors was assembled to create a plan to celebrate the Goin Band’s 100 year celebration. The Goin’ Band is among some of the top marching bands in the nation, receiving the prestigious Sudler Trophy in 1998. The origi-
nal band, entitled the Matador Band, was formed in 1925 and consisted of 21 members. By 1926, the Matador Band had 80 members and continued expanding for the following years. Today, the band consists of 440 members who perform at all home and away games. During its time the Goin Band not only has become apart of the tradition of campus but has also innovated the college band culture.
On Oct. 30, 1926, the Matador Band was the first college band to travel to an away game. They traveled to Fort Worth for a game against Texas Christian University. After this game, the band assumed the name the Goin’ Band. “It was years later as they built upon that, that it became the Goin’ Band because they were always going to other events. We were the first collegiate band to travel out of town,” Gordon said. SEE CENTENNIAL, PG. 10
BEHIND THE SCENES
Schovanec’s garden shows beauty in hardship By JACOB LUJAN editor-iN-Chief
JACOB LUJAN/The Daily Toreador
Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec stands outside of one of two greenhouses in his backyard garden at his home in Lubbock Aug. 20, 2025. Schovanec uses the greenhouses to germinate a variety of seeds before planting them in his garden.
Located a block away from Texas Tech, a symbol of regrowth lives through Tech President Lawrence Schovanec’s garden, containing hundreds of plant species. Growing through the ashes of a garage fire, which burned many family memories, the garden is now a place where Schovanec can be found sipping his cup of joe, admiring the greenery and getting lost in the distant sound of the Goin’ Band from Raiderland’s tunes. “I’ve always been a great admirer of the beauty of nature, and I was raised on a farm, where you really connect with nature,” Schovanec said. “If you were raised on a farm, you know what the smell of soil is, and you can be out there all day until the evening when the sun is going down. Sometimes, nature will cause me to stop and look SEE BEHIND THE SCENES, PG. 3